I love woodcuts and I make woodcuts. On this blog I write about woodcuts I love and woodcuts I make.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Highlights from [Baren] Exchange #68 (Part 3 of 4)

This the third of four posts highlighting prints from Baren Forum's #68 Exchange. The theme was "Nudes", and the paper size was 8" x 8". The first post can be found here and the second can be found here. Third: nude beach humor Featuring Why Not? by Bridget Pilip Murphy (above) and Nudist Newbie by Therese Krupp (below.) Two prints in this exchange dealt with public nudity in a whimsical manner. Specifically, they both deal with the emotional charge felt in the initial moments after the subject (in both cases, a woman) has decided to enter an outdoor nudist space.

The first frames the naked torso of a perfectly proportioned venus as she enters a verdant beach setting, the grass speckled with little, cheery flowers. And though we only see her body below the shoulders, the title presumably puts us into her head. She is the one who has just removed her playful polka dot bikini in response to the sign that reads "Clothing Optional." As the title queries, indeed, with such a figure that could only draw admiring, lustful, or envious gazes, why not?

The second print sort of does the opposite. Here we see only the subject's face, though from the title "Nudist Newbie" we can assume she is naked or about to be so. Instead of us looking at her body, we see in the mirror of her sunglasses that she is looking at other peoples' bodies, and literally biting her fingernail over her predicament.

It seems that the second print answers the question posed by the title of the first.

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About Me

I'm a fine art printmaker, teaching artist and sole proprietor of Words On Woodcuts Press. I earned my MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2006 and have exhibited widely at art centers, university galleries, and independent art spaces. I've been teaching since 2002, including through the Mural Arts Program. Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Wagner Free Institute of Science. I maintain a studio practice in Philadelphia. I'm also the mother of two fantastic little girls.